


Involved with the Dixons

by Laitie



Category: DCU, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-26 16:20:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18182909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laitie/pseuds/Laitie
Summary: Rewrite of The Dixon Girl because I hated how that turned out. Also, this is about more than the relationship between my OC and Dick Grayson. No need to read The Dixon Girl to get this.





	Involved with the Dixons

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Dixon Girl](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16706074) by [Laitie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laitie/pseuds/Laitie). 



They hadn’t meant to find the boy. They hadn’t expected there to be any captives in Roger Coleman’s facility. It was the security footage they had scanned through that tipped them off. Robin finally found him locked in a closet, his left wrist wrapped professionally in a cast and his shoes missing. They brought him back to base and found a pair of sandals for him to use inside. In two days, they hadn’t managed to get more than five words out of him. But he didn’t seem to realize that they were keeping watch on him 24/7.

Which would explain why Nightwing was now standing in the shadows of the base, by the theta tubes, waiting. They hadn’t yet run the boy’s DNA through the system, so the theta tubes would be useless for him. But that wasn’t the point. The point was, running away from them was not a good idea.

The boy was silently making his way into the room. It was a little after 4:00, when even superheroes should be asleep. He held his borrowed flip flops laced in the fingers of his left hand, leaving his right hand free. He scanned the room before approaching the theta tubes. He reached out to the control panel.

“I wouldn’t do that, Sven.”

The boy jumped and spun around, right fist flying towards where the voice had come from. Nightwing easily caught it in his left hand and held it, kneeling down to Sven’s height as the boy struggled to pull away. 

“Let me go,” Sven growled.

“Hmmm.” The man pretended to think about it. “No,” he finally said. 

“I’m just going home,” Sven tried.

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” Nightwing said. “But that doesn’t really matter. We need to talk.”

Sven rolled his eyes. “About what?”

“About Dr. Byrd.”

“Who?”

“Look.” Nighwing nodded his head to the side as a holographic screen appeared there. A video began to play on it. Sven was sitting on a table, cast freshly wrapped about his wrist, as a doctor was on the other side of the room, talking to a guard. There was no sound. Of course, Sven knew what was going to happen next.

The boy in the video was quiet, staring down at the floor as the two men talked. Then, Dr. Byrd started looking around. He started to shake his head. His behavior got stranger and stranger until he began screaming and running around the room. The guard struggled to control the doctor. It wasn’t until more guards came to answer the screaming that they incapacitated him and dragged him away.

That was when the video froze.

Sven was not looking at it.

“Dr. Byrd is in the hospital,” Nightwing told the boy sternly. “He may never recover from that day.”

“Good,” Sven said. “He was an asshole.” 

“What did you do to him?” 

“Nothing,” the boy said.

“Then why were you laughing?”

The video rewound and zoomed in on Sven on the table. The crazier Dr. Byrd’s behavior became, the more the boy’s shoulders shook. The more he covered his mouth with his hands. 

“Looks like you know what’s going on,” Nightwing said. “And you find it funny.” 

“I just thought he was acting like an idiot,” Sven insisted. 

“I highly doubt that,” Nightwing said. “Why did Coleman kidnap you to begin with?”  
Sven stared daggers into Nightwing’s eyes. It was like he was staring straight through them. Those clear blue eyes of his were staring straight into Nightwing’s soul. 

Despite the obvious intimidation tactic, Nightwing stared cooly back at him. Until...until the boy’s face began to melt. He furrowed his brow and looked at the rest of the boy’s body. He was completely melting. And he was standing on...on molten rock? He looked around the room.

Except, he wasn’t in a room anymore.

He wasn’t at base anymore.

He was on a volcano? That was erupting? And there was molten lava headed straight for him and--

“Stop!” 

Nightwing closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them again, he was back at base, his hands on his head. When had he let go of Sven? Just ahead of him, M’Gann was holding Sven tightly in her arms, covering his eyes as he struggled against her.

“Let me go!” he cried.

“Not until you stop doing that to Nightwing!” M’Gann said.

“It’s done,” Nightwing said. “I-I’m back.” 

“You OK?” came Aqualad’s voice. He turned to look at his friend and nodded.

“See? He can’t see it anymore. Now let me go!” Sven went on.

“Only if you promise not to do it again,” M’Gann said.

“No!”

“Then I’ll carry you back to your room.” 

“No! I’m going home!” Sven yelled. 

“You’re staying with us until you tell us who your parents are and where you live,” Nightwing said sternly. “We need to talk to them.”

Sven sighed. “About what?” he demanded.

“Put him to bed,” Nightwing told M’Gann.

“No!” Sven cried, but M’Gann obliged, carrying the struggling boy back to his borrowed bedroom.

“You sure you’re OK?” Aqualad insisted.

“Not really,” Nightwing confided once the boy was out of earshot. He went on to explain to his friend what he saw. 

“So...that must be what he did to the doctor,” Aqualad said.

“Or something similar, yes,” Nightwing agreed. “I just hope he didn’t do anything else to my head while that was going on.”

“I think he was too focused on getting away,” Aqualad said. “Go get some rest. I’ll watch the boy tonight.” 

“No, it’s my shift,” Nightwing said.

“Your mind was just mixed up and meddled with,” Aqualad insisted. “Trust me, I know what that’s like. You need rest.”

They stared at each other a moment. “OK,” Nightwing gave in. “Thanks.” With that, Nightwing and Aqualad parted ways. Aqualad to Surveillance and Nightwing to the theta tubes. Unfortunately for Nightwing, this was not the end of his night.


End file.
